{"id":1577,"date":"2024-03-04T21:55:42","date_gmt":"2024-03-04T21:55:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/editjournal.redakt.eu\/faxmodem\/?p=1577"},"modified":"2024-05-13T09:12:40","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T08:12:40","slug":"android-7-virtual-device-gotchas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/editjournal.redakt.eu\/faxmodem\/blog\/development\/experimental\/android-7-virtual-device-gotchas\/","title":{"rendered":"Android Studio Virtual Device: Installing and Gotchas, pre-Android 7"},"content":{"rendered":"

Android 7+ introduces certificate pinning<\/a> that makes it more difficult to debug the requests the device makes. This covers the pre-certificate-pinning Android versions.<\/p>\n

Install<\/h2>\n

Download and install. Here's the archive with all available versions: https:\/\/developer.android.com\/studio\/archive<\/a>. I will be installing 2023.2.1.25.<\/p>\n

First Launch; Choosing SDK<\/h2>\n

If Android Studio crashes every time you try to open it, check your available disk space. The unpacked app itself takes about 2,5-3 GB and then it needs quite a lot of space when you launch it, even if it claims otherwise. I got it to work only after I freed up about 15-20 GB. It may depend on the Android Studio version and the SDK you chose.<\/p>\n

In case you want to choose your SDK version<\/strong>: when you launch Android Studio for the first time, you are greeted with Setup Wizard which suggests you install the latest SDK. Agree and let it be downloaded and installed. Then go to Android Studio Preferences -> Languages and Frameworks -> Android SDK. There you will see the list of all available SDKs. (If you skip installing the suggested SDK, all options will be grayed out. It seems you have to install the newest one first.)<\/p>\n

Basically, what you're choosing here is how recent Android APIs you will be working with. The newer SDKs are normally larger. Older SDKs are smaller, sometimes significantly.<\/p>\n

Create an Android Virtual Device<\/h2>\n

When Android Studio is launched, you will be presented with the Welcome to Android Studio<\/em> screen. Under More Actions<\/em> click Virtual Device Manager<\/em>. There you can create a new Android Virtual Device (AVD). This will be the actual emulated phone you will be working with.<\/p>\n

I selected Pixel (just the old Pixel) with the API 24 and Google Play enabled. Internally my AVD ID is "Pixel_API_24".<\/p>\n

MITMProxy<\/h2>\n

Install<\/strong> on your computer by downloading<\/a> the binaries.<\/p>\n

Launch<\/strong> (on a Mac) by going to Terminal and running \/Applications\/mitmproxy.app\/Contents\/MacOS\/mitmweb<\/code>. This starts MITM Proxy and opens the browser UI.<\/p>\n

Remember to install the MITM Proxy certificate<\/strong> on your AVD. If you don't, the HTTPs connections made on your device will fail. A good sign you forgot this step is you start MITM Proxy and all it's intercepting is:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/connectivitycheck.gstatic.com\/generate_204   GET 204 0   39ms    \n\nhttp:\/\/www.google.com\/gen_204   GET 204 0   57ms    <\/code><\/pre>\n
The command line will be complaining as well:<\/p>\n
\n
Client TLS handshake failed. The client does not trust the proxy's certificate for www.google.com (OpenSSL Error([('SSL routines', '', 'sslv3 alert certificate unknown')]))<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Add the certificate by transferring it to the device:<\/p>\n